School Board Interview

Key area - Continuous Improvement

Transcript from interview with Black River Falls School Board President, Mary Jo Rozmenoski.

1. How is the board asking or directing the superintendent and staff to identify comparable schools systems that are performing better and using that information to set reasonable progress goals for our own system by drawing on the experiences of others?

I believe that this has been our standard procedure for some time now. We have always looked at comparable districts to help gauge how we are doing in terms of student achievement and development. We look at similar size and demographics, but I believe it is important to look at districts that have similar demographics such as Native American and poverty percentages, such as Tomah and Hayward. We are always looking at districts that excel and how we can adopt the strategies that they are using.

We also are constantly reviewing our results and are not afraid to adjust goals accordingly.

2. How does the board approach creating an organizational culture that values continuous improvement and encourages experimentation and innovation, or does it even want to promote this?

Well, you've heard me say many times, “Change is an opportunity” I truly believe in that and try to live my life and perform my board duties with that attitude. I understand that our board members come from different backgrounds and experiences and I need to look at that with the board.

I try to understand them and help all of them understand each other and come together. During our board retreats and development sessions, I share what to expect from each other and the other members. For example, I share that I don’t respond to questions immediately. I need time to process things and gather my thoughts. So people should not be concerned that I don’t respond to questions or request immediately. We try to share our personalities with each other so we get to understand how we operate, how each of us deal with change. I like to have our development meetings and all of our meetings planned and strategic. Yet at the same time, I am willing to change direction if something is not working.

3. What is you and the board’s philosophy on gathering feedback on performance and adopting a “customer focus” with the community?

The establishment of the public relations committee is a clear sign that this is important to me and to the board; for marketing the district. As you know, one of the biggest concerns is our open enrollment out numbers. This is one of the most active board committees and it will be key to getting information on the upcoming referendum. We are pleased that through this group, we are responding to the community and using many experts beyond school, from the community to address the public relation needs of the district.

4. How does the board clearly communicate that it is committed to continuous improvement?

First, I believe that our presence makes a difference. I try to attend as many events as possible and to encourage other board members to be visible at events. I have also pushed to include all staff, from teachers, bus drivers and aide to cooks and custodians in the opening of the year in-service messages from the superintendent and the board. Everyone in the district needs to hear those messages. I also make a point to talk about the school events in the community. Information dissemination

5. How is continuous improvement built into boarding planning process

It has been difficult with the turn over in superintendents in our district. As I mentioned, I'm comfortable with change, but I've had to be since getting on the board eight years ago, we've had six different superintendents. When I look back at the year we had the issues with our previous superintendent, we did not make any progress on our improvement plans. I’m not proud of either fact and as much as I am open to embracing change, I’m looking forward to some consistency, particularly with the superintendent's position.

As far as board planning, today we are having a board development meeting and will be talking about the improvement process in terms of the upcoming referendum. Every board member will be out talking about it. We are going to get those member who have been sitting back engaged and they will be out there talking about the referendum and how important it is. All of us will be talking about it and writing letters to the papers.

6. Is there community participation in continuous improvement discussions and plan reviews?

Well, you have been a part of the Welding Skills Institute and that has be a great community collaboration. At the same time, with the Ho-Chunk nation turning down the change in 18-money law, we need to work together with the nation to help address the financial literacy needs of our Ho-Chunk students.  

Unfortunately, I've been hearing in the community that Ho-chunk girls who are approaching 18 and high school graduation are being looked at as “prey”. We really need to get community input from the nation to assist them in addressing these issues. One other concern I have is the poverty level of our community. Last year, I spoke with the school board members from Chippewa Falls and they told me about their free breakfast for all students. I came right back asked why we couldn't do that. I’m pleased that we were eligible and able to institute it here, too.



As I reflect on our conversation and relate Ms. Rozmenoski's answers back to the frameworks of continuous improvement that we studied, as well as the information from chapter 12 in the "Key Works of School Boards" book, it becomes clear that while our board and our district has made attempts at improvement and has tried various programs to address student achievement needs, we do not live the "culture" of school improvement that is discussed in the book.

With the turnover that we have had in our administration (and also our staff), it has been nearly impossible to build and sustain a universal culture of continuous improvement. We are currently beginning the second year of our new superintendent, who has sought to bring some structure to the improvement cycle and time will tell how that works. I asked Ms. Rozmenoski whether she or the board had discussed or explored the possibility of hosting large community event to gather feedback and distill themes/needs for the district from a broad cross-section of the community. She stated that that probably was not something they would be doing, but she is interested in talking with the board members from Chippewa Falls about their process. She is supportive of our superintendent's research and possible adoption of the Studer Education model.

All in all, my analysis of our board and district meets the goal of a continuous improvement district lands on the opinion that we are currently rebuilding from a long stretch of instability and putting structures into place. To us the terminology from the book, we are presently talking the talk and starting to "walk the talk" time will tell how and when we are able to "walk the walk"- truly creating that culture of continuous improvement.

If I were superintendent, I would focus all my current efforts on communicating the facts to the community about the referendum and getting all board members, staff and anyone else I could convince on board talking about the need and the relative ? deal this referendum is for our community. Soon after the referendum, I would begin planning a community forum to gather input, develop themes and craft a continuous improvement plan similar to DeForest's "Framework for our Future". I would use this event to craft our steps forward in addressing the details of the facilities upgrades (assuming a positive outcome on the referendum) and for addressing our student performance improvement efforts.

School Board Governance interfacing with Student Performance and District Vision/Purpose

As we learned in our class, there are a number of models for school board governance. They all approach the problem of bringing board members together to best dispense with the role with which they are charged. Those roles are:

1. Determine a vision/mission for the district that reflects the needs and wishes of the community while focusing on properly preparing students to achieve at high levels and leave school prepared for their next phase of their lives.
2. Oversee the work of the superintendent to assure that he or she is leading the staff appropriately to fulfill the mission and vision that had previously been set.
3. Communicate out to the parents and community the degree to which the goals were met and what measures will be taken to improve and/or adjust the goals.

Our instructor, presented a number of models of board governance and school improvement models. The one that spoke most to me was the Studer Education Group.

On their website, the Studer Education Group states, "The mission of Studer Education's EBL K12 is to provide students with a great place to learn, teachers with a great place to teach and staff with a great place to work, and parents with confidence that their children are getting a great education."

I don't think that anyone could argue with a system that would live up to this mission. The challenge with this, and any system, is translating the actions of a board into improved academic and social student achievement. In other words, how can the actions of a group of seven adults, who often are not trained in any formal branch of education make a difference to six - eighteen year olds in the classrooms?

We learned that as unlikely as it may seem, well run boards, who practice proper governance procedures and who implement structured improvement plans, can and do improve the development and the achievement of the students in their district.

In the Studer model, It starts off with a strategic plan, district scorecard, leader evaluation, maximize performance which leads into the k12 accountability system and continuous improvement.

A well functioning board, one which focuses on governance and avoids micro-management, interfaces with student performance and district vision in a number of important ways. First the board collects themes which outline the needs, wants and expectations of the community through community conversations. It then helps to set the desired outcomes in the district through the development of results and operational expectations that are communicated to the superintendent and the district staff. The superintendent then leads that staff, possibly through a framework such as the Studer model to the development of strategic planning and quality processes and deployment of improvement plans.

Finally, the analysis of the results data verifies the success of the process and serves to guide necessary revisions or adjustments to the plan and implementation of the strategies.

Brad Saron, our instructor, discussed with us a number of ways that boards can influence the improvement process of a district. There are two key themes that I will take away from our class instruction and discussion. The first is the concept of alignment. With all of the models, the idea that a well functioning district with high student achievement is most often the result of a district that has alignment from top to bottom (and bottom to top). For example, Brad mentioned districts like Pewaukee and Janesville. These two districts have boards that practice good governance, set clear policy and direction for the district and have put systems in place that address student achievement from the board room to the classroom. 

The second concept I am taking away is that of the "line of implementation". This is the line in the operational chart at which the Board turns over the responsibility to the superintendent and the staff. It is the demarcation line between a board practicing good policy governance (operating exclusively above the line) and a micro-managing board (one getting involved with duties that are clearly administrative).